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Ricki Herbert is determined he and his players do not get tangled in the hype surrounding David Beckham. At least not until after tonight's A-League clash with Adelaide United in the first leg of the weekend double-header.
"At the moment, none of us are looking any further ahead than the Adelaide game," said Herbert after team training yesterday. "There will be no real thought about the Galaxy game until Saturday morning."
Not surprisingly, all his players are keen to play tomorrow night but Herbert again is taking a cautious approach.
"Some players have had a lot of football recently including games for the All Whites so I want to monitor that especially as our next league game is again on Friday night."
Tonight's Hyundai A-League game is a chance for payback. After scoring very early at Hindmarsh Stadium on October 28, the Phoenix then gave away four goals, slumping to their worst result of the season.
"That was the time when we were going through those defensive lapses," said Herbert. "We have turned things around since then but there is still more to be done. Last week, we had 20 shots but only one goal. It is not like we are not creating opportunities. We just have to start taking them. We have to be more clinical."
Herbert is going with the same team who scored a battling 1-1 draw with Melbourne Victory at the Telstra Dome last weekend.
He has stuck with his three-man defence of Tony Lochhead, Kristian Rees and Karl Dodd. In midfield, he will have Ahmad Elrich and Vince Lia providing the width outside Tim Brown and Michael Ferrante. Daniel will play just ahead of this quartet to link with fellow Brazilian Felipe who will share the attacking duties with Shane Smeltz.
Herbert is pleased with the way marquee signing Elrich is coming on to his game.
"He is a very good player but has needed time to find his match fitness," said Herbert. "We look good when we get the ball wide. He plays a big part in that."
After playing four of their last five matches away, the Phoenix are now at home for four. That is not lost on Herbert who sees it as a pivotal time in their season.
"I think we will make it difficult for Adelaide," said Herbert.
Captain Ross Aloisi will not play against his old club tonight but is likely to see some action in tomorrow's exhibition game which could attract the first 30,000-plus crowd in nearly 30 years.
Tonight's monster crowd at Westpac Stadium, for their seventh home game of the season, will take the club's attendance figures way beyond the 73,102 who turned up over two seasons - 21 matches - to watch the New Zealand Knights. The expected 20,000-plus tonight will also smash the season record 14,421 who turned up for their opening game against Melbourne in September.
And there will be a heck of a lot more tomorrow night for the Beckham show.
